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Conflict in the Middle East

What did you do during the genocide in Gaza?

1000 replies

ssd · 22/05/2025 22:05

This is a brilliant article.

This will be taught in schools one day and our grandkids will ask us but what did you do when you knew this was happening?

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/may/22/israel-gaza-genocide

What did you do during the genocide in Gaza? | Arwa Mahdawi

When future generations read about Gaza with horror and wonder how we allowed a livestreamed genocide to happen, what will you say?

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/may/22/israel-gaza-genocide

OP posts:
Thread gallery
17
Eatcakeplease · 12/07/2025 17:19

You said the only innocents in Gaza are the children. That is what you said.

ForgeOfEmpires · 12/07/2025 17:46

Anonimummy · 12/07/2025 17:14

You will note though that I said in my deleted (of course) earlier post that I can’t now refer back to that Palestinians supported terrorism and IMV the adults are not innocent, I was referring to the elections in 2006 where Hamas were voted in on 44.45% of the vote with Fatah taking 41.43% and the remaining 14% of the vote being spread around 5 other parties.

Fatah hardly has a record of wanting peace with Israel.

Not sure what platform the other 5 parties were on but they got between 2-4% of the vote each. Mustafa Barghouti of the PNI and Salam Fayyad of the Third Way seem to be the only parties which did not advocate violence. Barghouti got 2.72% of the vote and Fayyad 2.41%

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_Palestinian_legislative_election

My bad, I shouldn’t have said ALL Palestinians. I should have said 95% of Gazan adults in 2006 whose children are now suffering the consequences and have been since 2006.

Edited

I do get your points.

Objectively, when you look at what's happening in Gaza — toddlers were held hostage in a tiny, overcrowded place — it’s hard to grasp how no one is helped. I get that it's unfair that israelis are held to impossible standards while Gazans are often infantalised.

And I appreciate that back in 2006, an overwhelming number of Palestinian adults voted for parties whose stated goal was the annihilation of Israel. That didn’t come out of nowhere.

Even before Hamas, there was deep-rooted hostility — and IMO that was understandable given their situation. But the truth is, every major organisation dealing with the Palestinians was ideologically committed to Israel's destruction. Whether they said it openly or not, that was the aim.

After partition, Egypt occupied Gaza — and they treated the Palestinians like garbage. No rights, no citizenship, no future. Locked in, neglected, and left to rot. That didn’t create a population hungry for peace and prosperity. It created bitterness and generations raised on resentment.

So yes, many Palestinians today have spent a lifetime being used as pawns in a war they didn’t start — but have been taught to die for. They grow up believing Israel stole everything from them and continues to oppress them. They're fed constant antisemitic propaganda and conspiracy theories, until it becomes reality to them. They’re told “freedom” means the destruction of the Jews. I dont just mean by Hamas. I mean by activists. Lawyers. The UN. EVERYONE.

In my view, this whole situation is a continuation of the same antisemitism that allowed Hitler to murder six million Jews while the world watched and shrugged. After the Holocaust, the Jews didn’t vanish — many gathered in one place, and so the obsession shifted: from exterminating them in Europe to doing it in the Middle East. The world still scapegoats Jews. That’s why the world tolerates this madness, excuses terror, and stays silent while hostages are held and babies are used as shields. I can't see any other explanation.

But people are a product of many things.

People here in the UK didn’t always believe in liberalism or equality or protecting children. It took generations of cultural progress. Gaza hasn’t just missed out on that — it’s been actively held back. Its people have been trapped in a system that tells them they’ll only be free once the Jews are gone.

There’s context on both sides, but let’s not pretend it’s symmetrical. One side wants to live. The other’s been raised to die — and take as many with them as possible. Actually aside from the terrorists and leaders, the Palestinians I hold in deep contempt are actually the ones in the west.

They've been to New York or London or Berlin and they know the true history. They're free to speak. They know what's going on and are often highly educated and they often actively push for intifadas or "resistance" from the comfort of their Colombia free accommodation.

but I have a lot of empathy for thame ones trapped in it. I've got no doubt a lot of Gazans hate Hamas. No doubt many of them are utterly fucking terrified and suffering horrifically. Loads have lost their children and most have lost their homes. I don't believe their all radical ideologues who want this.

The problem is the world has enabled what's happened, and what we see is the worst. We mostly see what Hamas permits us to see. I epuldnt be suprised if it turns out a vast number of regular people just want it to stop.

ForgeOfEmpires · 12/07/2025 17:49

So many typos there, sorry!

Stirabout · 12/07/2025 17:55

ForgeOfEmpires · 12/07/2025 17:49

So many typos there, sorry!

Re your pp 6th. para down. When did the UN tell Palestinians that freedom means the destruction of the Jews. Plus. When did ‘everyone’ tell them this too.

Eatcakeplease · 12/07/2025 17:56

Have we already forgotten the anti- Hamas protests? I recently saw some Palestinians in Gaza calling an end to the war and holding pictures of the Kfir children. To say we want better for all of our children - Palestinian and Israeli. I consider calling all Palestinian adults complicit as hate speech. This is to @Anonimummy

Lolapusht · 12/07/2025 18:10

Stirabout · 12/07/2025 17:55

Re your pp 6th. para down. When did the UN tell Palestinians that freedom means the destruction of the Jews. Plus. When did ‘everyone’ tell them this too.

https://x.com/hillelneuer/status/1861037702864310523?s=46&t=OcT4uVFDgKzZK5bQN0DMLw]]

https://x.com/vividprowess/status/1912249320352502050?s=46&t=OcT4uVFDgKzZK5bQN0DMLw]]

https://x.com/lizarosen0000/status/1942200409990279465?s=46&t=OcT4uVFDgKzZK5bQN0DMLw

UNRWA schools teach a curriculum of Jew hatred and martyrdom.

https://x.com/hillelneuer/status/1861037702864310523?s=46&t=OcT4uVFDgKzZK5bQN0DMLw%5D%5D

ForgeOfEmpires · 12/07/2025 18:13

Stirabout · 12/07/2025 17:55

Re your pp 6th. para down. When did the UN tell Palestinians that freedom means the destruction of the Jews. Plus. When did ‘everyone’ tell them this too.

They didn't wait long. In 1948 they passed Resolution 194 during an active war, in which five Arab armies invaded Israel with the openly stated goal of wiping it off the map. While Israel was fighting for its survival, the UN demanded that those very aggressors—and the population backing them—be allowed to “return” and settle inside the fledgling Jewish state.

Let’s be clear: no sovereign nation in history has been told to absorb people who had just tried to destroy it—under international supervision, no less.

The message to Palestinians was poisonous: “If you can’t defeat Israel by war as you're trying to do don’t worry—we’ll demand they let you back in anyway.”

That’s not how war works, not morally and not practically. The UN essentially told the Arab world: lose the war, win the demographics. And it told Israel: survive genocide—and then invite the people attempting it in.

Instead of helping Palestinians rebuild and resettle—like millions of other post-war refugees—the UN enshrined their victimhood eternally, creating a dedicated agency, UNRWA, that promised “refugee” status not just to those displaced in 1948, but to all their descendants forever.

No other group on earth is treated this way. UNRWA has since become a factory of hate, running schools where children are taught that Israel doesn’t exist, where maps erase the Jewish state, and where martyrdom is glorified. Generations have grown up being told that peace means reversing 1948, not building a future.

Meanwhile, the UN looked the other way as Gaza turned into a terror fortress—with UNRWA employees involved in terror, aid funds misused, and tunnels built under schools and hospitals. When Hamas fired rockets from residential areas, the UN said nothing. When Israel struck back to protect its citizens, the UN condemned it.

And on October 7th, when Hamas unleashed medieval slaughter, UN staff were implicated—some even participated.

The UN has enabled extremism, sabotaged peace, and betrayed both Palestinians and Israelis. The tragedy of Gaza is not just Hamas. It’s the international community that told an entire population that its freedom depended on someone else’s annihilation.

veiledsentiments · 12/07/2025 18:32

What a load of old tosh. Seems that some videos may be disputable, and others are not.

The Facts: UNRWA uses host government textbooks, in line with UN best practice for providing quality education in refugee settings. UNRWA reviews all textbooks used in its schools to identify sections that may not be in line with UN values and UNESCO standards for teaching. UNRWA has no tolerance for hate speech and inciting discrimination, or violence. Independent analysts and international education experts have vouched for the quality and content of the education that UNRWA provides in its schools.

Using host country curriculums in refugee situations is standard for the UN around the world. It is considered a best practice that helps ensure that students can pursue their education into host country educational systems at any level and more broadly participate in the social and economic life of the host country. This is particularly relevant for UNRWA as our school system ends after grade 9[1], and students transition to local schools for upper secondary, then university.
UNRWA enriches the curriculum it uses by adding a programme on human rights, conflict resolution and tolerance, unique in the region.
UNRWA teachers are trained to address any controversial content in the classroom, using guidance documents developed by UNRWA. The teachers are required to follow this approach and held accountable. When it comes to the Palestinian Authority textbooks, UNRWA refers systematically to UN positions on issues such as the occupation, borders, the separation barrier, and Jerusalem. UNRWA is not in a position to – nor is it mandated to – reconcile the Israeli and Palestinian narratives.
Thousands of self-learning materials produced in-house to support distance learning have also been reviewed through a robust process and uploaded on UNRWA’s Digital Learning Platform. Teachers are regularly reminded that only material uploaded on the platform can be used. Meanwhile, UNRWA is progressing with digitisation of its education programme.
In addition, an Education Expert Advisory Group, composed of globally recognised experts representing renowned institutions like UNESCO and the World Bank among others, advises UNRWA on a regular basis on its digitisation transition and curriculum related matters more broadly.
Internationally recognised outside evaluations – including a 2021 World Bank-UNHCR study –demonstrated that UNRWA’s educational outcomes are among the best in the region and at the lowest cost per student. UNRWA’s students in Gaza, the West Bank, and Jordan “scored an average of a quarter of a standard deviation higher in international assessments than public school children, implying an advantage of almost a year of learning.” Regarding the textbooks produced by the Palestinian Authority, UNRWA’s own stance on these materials closely aligns with the Georg Eckert Institute’s findings in a study commissioned by the European Commission and published in 2021.

https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/159281614191477048/pdf/The-Global-Cost-of-Inclusive-Refugee-Education.pdf

Lolapusht · 12/07/2025 18:33

Bear in mind Mohamed Hadid is still classified as a Palestinian refugee as are his children. The status of eternal refugee does the Palestinian people no favours. There is no tomorrow when tire still trying to erase yesterday.

Lolapusht · 12/07/2025 18:35

@veiledsentiments have you got links to the UN/UNRWA confirming some of their employees took part in 7 Oct or that they didn’t know their schools/hospitals were being used by Hamas as those would be useful?

veiledsentiments · 12/07/2025 18:39

Lolapusht · 12/07/2025 18:35

@veiledsentiments have you got links to the UN/UNRWA confirming some of their employees took part in 7 Oct or that they didn’t know their schools/hospitals were being used by Hamas as those would be useful?

Sure I could find some. Google is your friend here.

Stirabout · 12/07/2025 18:42

If people stopped getting all their so called facts from bloody Insta and X we’d all be able to move on with the truth.

ForgeOfEmpires · 12/07/2025 18:44

Some people seem to be in complete denial about almost everything.

A UN-commissioned review in 2024 confirmed there was “antisemitic content in some textbooks used by UNRWA schools,” including maps that removed Israel entirely and described Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine. Around 200 UNRWA-run schools in Gaza alone were implicated.

The European Parliament went further, explicitly condemning the “problematic and hateful contents encouraging violence, spreading antisemitism and inciting hatred” in both Palestinian Authority textbooks and supplemental materials developed directly by UNRWA staff. The NGO IMPACT-se documented glorification of jihad and martyrdom too.

The rot is not limited to books. UNRWA employees themselves have posted openly antisemitic content online, with staff reportedly celebrating the October 7th massacre and sharing material praising Hitler. This was confirmed in the European Parliament.

UNRWA’s role goes beyond passive complicity. By institutionalising generational victimhood, embedding anti-Israel hatred into education, and granting hereditary refugee status, it ensures the conflict never ends. Instead of fostering integration and opportunity, it entrenches grievance and fosters extremism.

The evidence is overwhelming. The UN, through UNRWA, has done more to prolong Palestinian suffering and block the path to peace than anyone. Its schools have not educated—they’ve indoctrinated. As a result, many countries suspended or even completely cut funding to UNRWA.

Stirabout · 12/07/2025 18:51

ForgeOfEmpires · 12/07/2025 18:13

They didn't wait long. In 1948 they passed Resolution 194 during an active war, in which five Arab armies invaded Israel with the openly stated goal of wiping it off the map. While Israel was fighting for its survival, the UN demanded that those very aggressors—and the population backing them—be allowed to “return” and settle inside the fledgling Jewish state.

Let’s be clear: no sovereign nation in history has been told to absorb people who had just tried to destroy it—under international supervision, no less.

The message to Palestinians was poisonous: “If you can’t defeat Israel by war as you're trying to do don’t worry—we’ll demand they let you back in anyway.”

That’s not how war works, not morally and not practically. The UN essentially told the Arab world: lose the war, win the demographics. And it told Israel: survive genocide—and then invite the people attempting it in.

Instead of helping Palestinians rebuild and resettle—like millions of other post-war refugees—the UN enshrined their victimhood eternally, creating a dedicated agency, UNRWA, that promised “refugee” status not just to those displaced in 1948, but to all their descendants forever.

No other group on earth is treated this way. UNRWA has since become a factory of hate, running schools where children are taught that Israel doesn’t exist, where maps erase the Jewish state, and where martyrdom is glorified. Generations have grown up being told that peace means reversing 1948, not building a future.

Meanwhile, the UN looked the other way as Gaza turned into a terror fortress—with UNRWA employees involved in terror, aid funds misused, and tunnels built under schools and hospitals. When Hamas fired rockets from residential areas, the UN said nothing. When Israel struck back to protect its citizens, the UN condemned it.

And on October 7th, when Hamas unleashed medieval slaughter, UN staff were implicated—some even participated.

The UN has enabled extremism, sabotaged peace, and betrayed both Palestinians and Israelis. The tragedy of Gaza is not just Hamas. It’s the international community that told an entire population that its freedom depended on someone else’s annihilation.

Thanks for responding. Your second paragraph is incorrect. England did this to Ireland. Other comments I understand have been debunked by @veiledsentiments .

Beachtastic · 12/07/2025 18:58

Eatcakeplease · 12/07/2025 16:02

Stop making things up that I did not say. Do you agree with the poster that the only innocents in Gaza are the children?

Apologies, it might not have been you, but the general gist of the conversation seemed to be that the Gazans are completely helpless.

I think the comment about innocents in Gaza expresses a profound frustration and despair about the brainwashing that seems to have taken place on some social media platforms. Hamas are terrorists who fight a very dirty war, and although all countries use propaganda during wartime, they take it to the next level by bombarding us with distressing images. And it seems to be working - at least here on MN, where it seems to be widely accepted that Israel is conducting a "genocide" when all the evidence points to that being precisely what Hamas has in mind (i.e. systematic extermination or persecution of a particular group of people based on ethnicity, religion, nationality, or race). They must be laughing up their sleeves to see the liberal Westerners marching solemnly to chants of "From the river to the sea."

They also ensure that it is impossible to tell the difference between a Hamas activist and an ordinary Gazan civilian, and report deaths as though all of them are innocent well-wishers, but statistically that seems unlikely: in December 2023, according to a poll by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, about 57% of Gazans supported Hamas’s attack on Israel. By March 2024, that figure had increased to 71%.

Because Israel refrains from using such underhand propaganda tactics, I have literally seen posts on MN dismissing the horrors of Nova Festival as just a bunch of kids getting shot at when running to the cars, and oh by the way it serves them right for dancing like no tomorrow when the poor Gazans were suffering right nextdoor.

I am not going to describe the gut-wrenching horrors that were actually visited upon the victims that day; you have access to Google and presumably are not just a passive consumer of a biased Insta feed. (I've met two of the survivors. Well, one now that the other has committed suicide because it was impossible to live with the memory of what took place.)

I'm assuming your heart is in the right place, so I urge you to look up the actual meaning of "genocide" and try to understand why this is particularly insulting to the Jewish race, not just historically but in the context of Hamas's stated intent to wipe them off the face of the Earth. Had that been Israel's intention towards Gaza, they easily have the capacity to have achieved it by now, instead of killing an estimated 2.3% to 4% of the Gazan population (still terrible, obviously, but not a genocide in the accepted meaning of the word).

Add to this the difficulty of fighting against a terrorist enemy that disguises itself as civilians, and you begin to get the idea of just how impossible Israel's position is, and how evil Hamas are.

HellsBalls · 12/07/2025 19:02

Lolapusht · 12/07/2025 18:33

Bear in mind Mohamed Hadid is still classified as a Palestinian refugee as are his children. The status of eternal refugee does the Palestinian people no favours. There is no tomorrow when tire still trying to erase yesterday.

Yes. There were a lot of posts about refugee camps being bombed. Sounds horrific. A quick bit of research showed the refugee camps were camps in name only. They were built up residential areas. May have been refugee camps 50 years ago. The Palestinians like to portray/remain the victims.

Stirabout · 12/07/2025 19:14

Beachtastic · 12/07/2025 18:58

Apologies, it might not have been you, but the general gist of the conversation seemed to be that the Gazans are completely helpless.

I think the comment about innocents in Gaza expresses a profound frustration and despair about the brainwashing that seems to have taken place on some social media platforms. Hamas are terrorists who fight a very dirty war, and although all countries use propaganda during wartime, they take it to the next level by bombarding us with distressing images. And it seems to be working - at least here on MN, where it seems to be widely accepted that Israel is conducting a "genocide" when all the evidence points to that being precisely what Hamas has in mind (i.e. systematic extermination or persecution of a particular group of people based on ethnicity, religion, nationality, or race). They must be laughing up their sleeves to see the liberal Westerners marching solemnly to chants of "From the river to the sea."

They also ensure that it is impossible to tell the difference between a Hamas activist and an ordinary Gazan civilian, and report deaths as though all of them are innocent well-wishers, but statistically that seems unlikely: in December 2023, according to a poll by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, about 57% of Gazans supported Hamas’s attack on Israel. By March 2024, that figure had increased to 71%.

Because Israel refrains from using such underhand propaganda tactics, I have literally seen posts on MN dismissing the horrors of Nova Festival as just a bunch of kids getting shot at when running to the cars, and oh by the way it serves them right for dancing like no tomorrow when the poor Gazans were suffering right nextdoor.

I am not going to describe the gut-wrenching horrors that were actually visited upon the victims that day; you have access to Google and presumably are not just a passive consumer of a biased Insta feed. (I've met two of the survivors. Well, one now that the other has committed suicide because it was impossible to live with the memory of what took place.)

I'm assuming your heart is in the right place, so I urge you to look up the actual meaning of "genocide" and try to understand why this is particularly insulting to the Jewish race, not just historically but in the context of Hamas's stated intent to wipe them off the face of the Earth. Had that been Israel's intention towards Gaza, they easily have the capacity to have achieved it by now, instead of killing an estimated 2.3% to 4% of the Gazan population (still terrible, obviously, but not a genocide in the accepted meaning of the word).

Add to this the difficulty of fighting against a terrorist enemy that disguises itself as civilians, and you begin to get the idea of just how impossible Israel's position is, and how evil Hamas are.

Israel and Israeli supporters on X etc do post propaganda full of lies I’ve already posted one just on this thread proved a lie by Reuters and others have fact checked the garbage coming out of many. Including Gazawood for example Your statement is incorrect. If you look back to the beginning of this war there’s plenty out there. Now proven as lies.

Martymcfly24 · 12/07/2025 19:15

The Palestinians like to portray/remain the victims

Jesus it's just a hate fest in here today. So glad people are showing their real colours .

Mohammad Hadid's parents were fecked out of their house by Jewish refugees they took in from Poland who then decided just to take their house.

ForgeOfEmpires · 12/07/2025 19:20

Stirabout · 12/07/2025 18:51

Thanks for responding. Your second paragraph is incorrect. England did this to Ireland. Other comments I understand have been debunked by @veiledsentiments .

Separation between the Irish Free State and the UK was settled by treaty, not by externally imposed demographic mandates. The situations are not remotely comparable.

Veiledsentiments has been posting nonsense all day. What I said was completely accurate. There's been a formal investigation and UNRWA was condemned in detail for it by the European Parliament.

"A document adopted on April 11, the EP said that it “condemns the problematic and hateful contents encouraging violence, spreading antisemitism and inciting hatred in Palestinian school textbooks, drafted by [European] Union-funded civil servants as well as in supplementary educational materials developed by UNRWA staff and taught in its schools.”

The EP further recognized that those teaching materials, subsidized with European taxpayer money in the case of PA textbooks, had a role in radicalizing Gazans prior to the October 7 onslaught, in which 1,200 people were killed by Hamas and other terror groups in southern Israel, and 253 were taken hostage to Gaza.

The EP resolution further called for the conditioning of educational aid to the Palestinian Authority (PA) on the production of educational material “that is free from antisemitic contents and incitement to violence.”

https://www.timesofisrael.com/european-parliament-condemns-incitement-in-palestinian-unrwa-textbooks/

There's a link to the EP document there confirming all I've said.

I struggle with the desperation of some on these boards to deny the facts of their eyes and ears. It's very deliberate and feels like this movement is bordering on flat-earthers in its level of denial of reality.

You could have confirmed this in 10 seconds using Google.

veiledsentiments · 12/07/2025 19:25

@ForgeOfEmpires Veiledsentiments has been posting nonsense all day.

Have I hell. I have disagreed. And you can’t call me out on it. And it has upset you and others.

If you can’t take it, then move on.

veiledsentiments · 12/07/2025 19:32

HellsBalls · 12/07/2025 19:02

Yes. There were a lot of posts about refugee camps being bombed. Sounds horrific. A quick bit of research showed the refugee camps were camps in name only. They were built up residential areas. May have been refugee camps 50 years ago. The Palestinians like to portray/remain the victims.

Who plays the victim card the best though, I wonder?

Beachtastic · 12/07/2025 19:33

veiledsentiments · 12/07/2025 19:32

Who plays the victim card the best though, I wonder?

Would you care to explain what you mean by that?

Stirabout · 12/07/2025 19:33

Martymcfly24 · 12/07/2025 19:15

The Palestinians like to portray/remain the victims

Jesus it's just a hate fest in here today. So glad people are showing their real colours .

Mohammad Hadid's parents were fecked out of their house by Jewish refugees they took in from Poland who then decided just to take their house.

Agree about some of these shocking comments today. Apparently the refugee camps with built structures aren’t ‘refugee’ enough. It’s like starving people aren’t thin enough. Ffs whats wrong with some people.

veiledsentiments · 12/07/2025 19:33

Beachtastic · 12/07/2025 19:33

Would you care to explain what you mean by that?

No.

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